Shattered Sharingan
by Nephie's Ginny
Summary: They all say he's evil, but who really understands? Good and evil has no boundaries, especially for Itachi...
1. Capture of the Kyuubi

He stared into the empty space in front of him, silent, with the look of coldness and penetrating in his eyes. Winds swept past him, delighted and joyful, yet when they reached him, they became fierce. _How long has it been,_ he wondered, still not coming to himself. Years past within a second, like a rushing hourglass that always seems to have enough sand.

_flashback _

"Mom! Dad! I'm home! …Oh, brother, where is mom and dad?"

The innocent look on his brother's face seemed just like an angel, except without the wings. Sasuke had always been like that, with only a mist of smartness that passed down through the Uchiha clan. _But this time, the face won't last, _he thought. _Bad news always makes him grouchy, and I'm not sure if he's ready for this._

"Come on brother, where is mom and dad?"

He hesitated, and then said, "Fine, go in and look for yourself."

Sasuke stepped inside the house, eagerly looking for his mother and father. And then, the silence came.

Silence that signaled the shocking truth, the hatred that will come; everything was bound to change that night: fate, life, and the bond between the brothers.

"What happened? Tell me, what happened!" The tone of anger was inevitable, as Sasuke's face looked dark and gloomy.

He took a deep breath, and then said in the easiest tone he could manage:

"If you want to know… I killed them."

"How… How could you?" Sasuke screamed at the top of his lungs. "I'll kill you!"

Sasuke tried to hurt him, but the attempt was useless. He stopped it without moving much, and then said the hardest words of all.

"Foolish little brother. If you want to kill me, then hate, spite, and survive pathetically."

And then Itachi left his brother Sasuke there crying without even looking back.

_flashback ends _

"Hey! Are you going to do anything?"

It was Kisame, Itachi's comrade. He was rude and bossy, but still he was a good ninja (if you count killing a lot of people as a good ninja). Still, Itachi would have glared at him if it weren't for his realizing what day today was. Instead, he just smiled weakly.

"First you're daydreaming, and now you're smiling. Tell me we don't have to contact a docter." Kisame sounded a little frustrated, but it was just a joke.

"No, you don't need to call one of Akatsuki's medical men. They'll just make matters worse."

"Well, too bad, since there's one of them coming…"

It was true, one of Akatsuki's men was running down an open path, not caring whether he was seen or not. He panted and gasped for air, then spotted Itachi and Kisame. He made a sudden stop, almost falling over.

"You…you're on a…a mission…" He barely finished his sentence, then fell on his knees, leaning on a nearby tree for support.

"I wonder what mission it could be? It's gotta be fun!" Kisame's excited voice did not match the poor guy that was still panting.

"So, what kind of mission is it?" Itachi asked, hoping it wouldn't be too much trouble. Not that he really couldn't face it off; he was a S-ranked criminal, and even Orochimaru feared him.

"You're supposed to get Naruto—you know who he is, the one with the fox demon sealed inside him—and then you'll know what will come next."

_Naruto?_ Itachi thought. _Wasn't he in the hidden village of leaf? Then… Sasuke will be there too. _He shook the idea off his mind and nodded his head.

"Aww… but I wanted something more fun. Getting a twelve year old brat is just annoying!" Kisame complained for about the thousandth time on their way to the village.

"Shut up, Kisame. Your complaints are even worse." Itachi replied, not in a good mood.

"What, as if a twelve year old brat can't be more annoying than I am? Come on! Naruto's like the biggest brat I've ever seen!" Kisame yawned, stretching like a cat.

"You talk as if you really know him. Which, in fact, you don't."

That made Kisame shut up. The sparrows chirping above their heads flew cheerfully and carefree.

They stepped inside the village, feeling the excited air rush past them with the meaning of a simple yet delicious greeting. Ramen was the only thing that could do that, but they didn't have time to stop and eat. Besides, they'll have enough trouble later getting bored to ramen when they get hold of Naruto.

Kisame looked around at their surroundings, and then tapped Itachi on the shoulder.

"Looks like we've got company."


	2. A Second Attempt

Chap. 2

It has been 5 years since Sasuke has ever seen Itachi's trace. For Sasuke, it means that he has put down his revenge. He has forgotten about his goal in the past and right now, the most important thing is to train. To be strong. But right now, Sasuke has to escape Kabuto's "supervision" and get some fresh air.

He crept down the narrow staircase, which creaked with every step he took. It wasn't long before Sasuke realized that Kabuto was standing at the end of the stairs grinning at him.

"Where do you think you are going, Sasuke-kun?"

"I've told you, stop calling me Sasuke-kun!" Sasuke replied bitterly. He hated the gray-haired boy who was famous for his spying techniques.

"Ah, but… Fine, Sasuke-chan, I just wanted to tell you, Naruto-kun was here a moment ago before you interrupted with your creaking noises."

Sasuke bit his lip, trying to stop himself from hitting Kabuto. He had more important stuff to worry about. That loud-mouth brat Naruto was here… then he must have attracted Orochimaru. After fleeing from their last battle, Orochimaru has been looking forward to fighting Naruto again.

Indeed, Orochimaru's head popped up from the window, smiling his fearful smile.

"Fufu… Naruto-kun came here? My, that must be interesting… I'll have to see him myself."

Great, another reason why Naruto gets himself into danger every time, Sasuke muttered to himself.

"And you'll love to come too, right, Sasuke-kun?" For the second time, Sasuke bit his lip hard not to hit someone.

"Yeah, I guess so – "

"Fufu… It'll be great, you and Naruto-kun having a reunion after all those years…"

Orochimaru's words reminded Sasuke a lot about Naruto. The memories rushed to him as if they happened just yesterday. Naruto's jutsus and the way he was envious of Naruto 5 years ago popped up in his mind. But he just shook it off and followed Orochimaru into the forest he always wanted to explore.

"Let me go you idiot! I'm not a beggar! Look! I even have decent clothing!" Naruto shouted out towards some police officers trying to drag him away.

"Son, your clothes are torn, you're dirtier than the ground, and you even have a plastic bowl with you. Explain that."

"I was training… and the bowl… it was just an instant ramen bowl! I had ramen for lunch! Now let me go!"

"Tell that to the judge, not us!" An officer half yelled to him.

"Let the boy go, I say… you don't want any trouble… fufu, right?"

Naruto looked up. The person he wanted to fight since 2 years ago was standing right in front of him, along with… Sasuke!

"Sasuke? But… why are you here?" Naruto stammered, staring at the person he always believed was his friend.

"Because I want to. There are no laws forbidding me to stay here, idiot."

"You're the one who is a moron! But I won't argue with you today, since Mr. Snakehead is here."

"Fufu… you are talking about me, right? Don't call me names, that's not polite, especially when I just saved you." The police were nowhere in sight – they flew when they saw Orochimaru's eyes.

"I just saw Kabuto today… Sakura-chan and I tied him up and asked him some questions. He was weak, fainting only after his 10th bowl of ramen!"

Orochimaru shuddered at the idea of 10 bowls ramen stuffed down Kabuto's throat. His shaking made Naruto gain his "speaking right" again.

"Sakura-chan pretended to be Kabuto, and by the looks of your face, she must have succeed!"

Sasuke couldn't stand it anymore. He started to run back to his 2-storey shack, where "Kabuto" was right now. But Naruto stopped him. Naruto's blue eyes were filled with determination, just like they were 5 years ago. Sasuke could even predict what he was going to say next.

"I'm not letting you go yet."

Sakura was still shaking from seeing Kabuto moan over all those bowls of ramen. She wouldn't have believed that Naruto had eaten 15 bowls of ramen if she didn't see it for herself. She kept a mental note never to touch ramen again.

Then the fact that Naruto was going to face Sasuke faced her. How would Naruto respond? Will Sasuke come back? Sakura yawned and took a nap on the ground. She shouldn't do this, but she was too tired to care.


	3. Escape

Sakura flipped over the random pages of her notebook. Cures for all sorts of poison popped out from the pages. Her hand stopped at the page where there was a line of scribbles. It was the cure for Sasori's poison, the one he put on his puppets. That time, they were trying to save Gaara. This time, it's Sasuke, but will Sasuke come back?

The words Sasuke had said when Sakura finally caught up with Naruto were still stinging her heart.

"Do as you wish, try as you might, I am not going back"

"Is it because of Itachi? Is that why you're following Orochimaru?" Naruto had asked then.

But Sasuke didn't reply, and Sakura didn't have the strength then to ask Sasuke the question she had in mind. The question that she'd been wanting to ask him ever since he left Konoha.

_What would you do if you didn't want to have revenge anymore?_

Yet Sasuke left with Orochimaru swiftly, and Sakura had to bury the question deep in her heart.

-------------------

Itachi fumbled through a wardrobe filled with Akatsuki robes. Strangely, Akatsuki never gets a designer to design some new clothing. It almost seem as if the robe was their trademark. Well, maybe it was. Itachi's hand hit something hard. He pulled it out, finding a metal case with a simple latch on it. He added a lock just in case some kid tripped over it.

"Hey, Itachi! Did you find it?" Kisame half whispered down the hall.

"Yeah, what do you want it for? Storing scrap paper?"

"No, but don't open the case yet. There's a map in there, a very detailed map of the land with every single little rock labelled on it. Don't lose it, and our plan could succeed."

"Every single rock? Why is it that I do not believe you?" Itachi replied in a suspicious tone of voice, but still, he hanged on to the small box.

The leaves rustled outside, and soon someone came inside, wearing a black robe with red clouds. He stared at the two members of his own organization.

"What are you doing here? Aren't you two supposed to be— "

"It's our own room. You can't prevent us from staying here." Itachi growled.

He left, still wondering where did he feel strange about what Itachi and Kisame were doing. There was something wrong, but he couldn't figure out just where it went wrong. And then he realized. It wasn't their room. He turned back and dashed toward the room, which was Sasori's room.

They were gone.

He cursed them, then went to wake up the others, only to find half of them also gone. They were up to something. And bad.

------------

Naruto slouched into the chair. He wasn't happy at all. Sasuke had really said some heart-breaking things about him, and his promise, to bring Sasuke back, was left to be uncompleted Something told him that Sasuke was hiding a really important fact, but he couldn't grasp what exactly it was. Sakura was making tea in the kitchen, with her pink little apron tied around her waist. _Why did Sasuke just leave like that? Didn't he even think about Sakura-chan?_

A knocking sound came from the front door, and Naruto went to open the door. A girl in light blue clothing from head to toe stood there. _She's not a ninja,_ Naruto realized.

"Hello. I know that introductions are important, but I'm not going to make one now, considering I know who you are, Naruto-kun. I'm here for one reason, and don't ask why."

Naruto choked. "You, you know my name? Then, then, do you know, um, Sakura-chan?" He coughed through all those sentences.

Sakura came from the kitchen, her face with obvious jealousy. No wonder. The girl was way cuter than Sakura, with light blue eyes that was so penetrating.

"Look, I'm here because I think I can help myself. I'll save Sasuke-kun from Orochimaru for you."

"And what do you want in return?"

Kakashi had been leaning against the wall, looking at the girl with curiosity. If what she said was true, she either didn't know Orochimaru at all, or she had a lot of power. Either way, she was an interesting girl.

---------

Orochimaru took Sasuke down the narrow cave that concealed the stone snake. Lighting up the candles in the snake's eyes with simple matches, Kabuto blew out the match and stepped on it, making sure that it doesn't start a fire. He'd been questioning himself why had he used matches; the reply was that he needed to save his chakra for other more important uses. Not lighting up a candle, that was too easy. Footsteps echoed down the hallway behind Orochimaru, light and swift, yet meaningfully leaving a sound. As if to warn of something—

Orochimaru reminded himself of the few people that could come here. It couldn't be that brat Naruto; he was just here. Then, who? Some high-skilled shinobi wandering into the wrong place?

His question was answered when the blacked-robed figure walked out the hall. The bright red clouds printed on the pitch black cloth reflected only one thing. The symbol of Akatsuki.

"So, why are you here? Come to admire a genius in the making?"

"No," the figure replied briskly, before dragging out the main topic. "Orochimaru, what did you hide in Sasori's room?"

Sasori was dead. Orochimaru's never been to Sasori's room, not to say hide something there. But he had given Sasori a map, which was part of the plan to destroy Akatsuki. But with Sasori gone, the only one who knew about the map was Kisame and himself. Could Kisame have told on him?

The best reply would be of one that didn't reveal anything. "I didn't hide anything in Sasori's room," he smiled. "I've never been to his room before." This was the truth, and with that, He'd not suspect Orochimaru anything."

"Fine then, I'll agree to the fact that you've never been to his room before. Well, then, you'd better be telling the truth, or else—"

" This is my lair. In here, you're nothing but a useless pile of flesh for my snakes."

"You're not always here, are you? No, you've been out there in the sun before, and now, you still can be out there. Believe me, that's the time I'll strike."


	4. Scheme

Tattered ruins lay everywhere, marring the landscape with jagged rocks and other materials protruding everywhere. Occasionally, a flash of blonde, light pink, silver, or even pale blue blinked here and there, but otherwise, the place was lifeless.

"Where are we headed, Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked; her voice tinted with a little fear and nervousness. The towns along the way have all been the same, the after-effects of an unnecessary war. But there was something wrong with this place, like a forbidding spell that keeps wanderers away, and even though no one has said anything yet, they could all feel it lingering in the air.

Well, almost everyone. The paled-haired girl leading the way all this time seemed to be unbothered, and only simply shrugging it off when the others felt uncomfortable.

"Are you ever going to tell us your name? We have to call you something…"

The rest of the group stared at the paled-haired girl, who made no intention of answering. After some time has elapsed, she spoke up.

"No. But you'll know soon. And we're here."

The wind-blown fields soon filled with an audible gasp.

* * *

"I'm not going."

That was Sasuke's first reaction when Orochimaru brought up the mission. The only reason he was here was to become strong enough to defeat Itachi, not follow every little mission the snake-headed sannin could come up with to throw Naruto and his fellow companions off track.

Speaking of Naruto, that was another reason to not go. Sasuke was still a little confused where Naruto was concerned. _Probably because of all his talk about being friends and brothers and all that stuff. _Unfortunately, everywhere Sasuke goes, he could almost always somehow find the annoying and short blonde there, talking and talking and talking. Though Sasuke didn't let any of that show.

Orochimaru, on the other hand, wouldn't give up his plan. He has already plotted down exactly where they'd meet the pesky blonde, what they'd say, and even the outfits that they were going to be in. Of course, the outfit involved the traditional clothing all Orochimaru's subordinates wore, but it also involved black fingernail polish, something picked up from Akatsuki's strange rituals. Sasuke probably wouldn't agree to the nail polish.

"If you defeat Naruto, no one will come to stop you with your pursuit of your brother, or more precisely, your brother's dead body and the satisfying feeling that you were the one who killed him. Think about it."

"I'm still not going." Though the voice contained a little uncertainty. _Aha. I'm on the right track._

"You might even meet Itachi himself."

This part was somewhat true. After the warning a few days before, Orochimaru had been especially careful, but to hunt after Naruto would mean going outside, and though there was a chance of getting killed, there was also a chance of meeting Itachi lurking somewhere in the shadows, waiting for the perfect opportunity to taunt the younger prodigy, or even himself. That wasn't good.

"Okay. I'll go. But I'm not going to be involved in the final killing, if you want him dead. I'm not going to kill anyone but…" Sasuke trailed on. _I'm not going to kill anyone but my brother… and you._

"Don't worry. That part is all up to me."

* * *

In Naruto's dreams, he often stared at cold, black eyes that stared back at him, so this time, he thought it was a dream as well.

"Ouch! What did you punch me for?" A murderous Sakura glared at Naruto, temporarily forgetting the situation.

"I was trying to see if I was dreaming or not." Naruto responded sheepishly.

"Then why did you punch ME?!"

"Because if I punched myself, it'd hurt."

Kakashi sweat-dropped, but said nothing. He wasn't the only one that didn't understand Naruto and Sakura's thinking, but the others weren't hiding it as well. The pale-blue-haired girl's eyebrows twitched furiously, Orochimaru was fake-fainting, and…

There in the middle of the fields, stood Sasuke. He wasn't faring much better, and Kakashi had a hunch that inside Sasuke's mind, calculations of the degree of moronity both Naruto and Sakura possessed—though mainly Naruto—were going on frantically. But for just a flash, Kakashi thought he saw a brief smile on Sasuke's face. But Kakashi blinked and the vision disappeared.

"Sasuke, I know I've asked this many times, but, are you going to come back?"

"My answer doesn't change, despite how you ask the question."

"Well, then, I guess I have nothing to say."

Shock filled a lot of people surrounding Naruto. _Is he going to give up that easily? _Orochimaru pondered. _It can't be, Naruto! You promised to bring Sasuke back. You can't give up! _Sakura, or rather, Inner Sakura, shouted blatantly at Naruto, though he couldn't hear because Inner Sakura's voice only echoed within Sakura's mind.

But it was Sasuke who brought the question up in words. "Do you mean that you are giving up the chase at last?"

"No. I'm not strong enough to defeat you now. But I will bring you back some day. Believe me. I will."

Sasuke was going to respond, but was cut off quite suddenly. By a figure in a black robe, printed with red clouds. Akatsuki's symbolic, well, symbol.

"I believe my predictions were never wrong, now were they, Snaky?"

"Who are you calling Snaky?!" Orochimaru hissed. What he feared has finally come, but with a very bad timing. Maybe if it had been delayed for a few minutes, Naruto would be dead.

"My, my, and I was quite pleased with the nickname. I believe one of your snakes complimented me on it when I went out the other day. It hissed at me like mad."

Without warning, the Akatsuki leader leaped towards Orochimaru, using a very familiar-looking jutsu. It took a while for Naruto to realize it, but when he did, he practically shouted the name out.

"Rasengan!"

The Akatsuki leader, AL for short, stopped and looked straight into Naruto's eyes. Naruto tried to look back, but the AL's face was hidden behind a mask.

"And how would you know my jutsu's name?"

"It's not your jutsu! The person who invented that jutsu would never do something as awful as what you and your group members have done!"

"And exactly what _have_ I done? Would it surprise you to say that I came up with this jutsu myself?"

Naruto would have responded, but Kakashi snatched the opportunity.

"Who are you?"

"I am _so _disappointed. My own student does not recognize me anymore. But that doesn't matter much, because I'm only here to ask Snaky a question. And if he doesn't comply… well, he will."

And then the AL took off his mask.


End file.
